New Jersey Nets

After four exciting and exhausting days in Orlando for All-Star weekend, it’s time for PBT to get out of town. The weather was good, and the city itself might be great, but we wouldn’t know due to spending the entire time shuttled between hotels, convention centers, and of course, the Amway Center downtown. Speaking of…

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT). All weekend Deron Williams got asked about Jeremy Lin again and again — not his favorite topic, as you might guess — but he did…

It’s about to become the only think anyone talks about. Through All-Star Weekend, Dwight Howard was able to keep a lid on the speculation about whether or not he will be traded. But that is about to change. The Magic players and front office staff are going to be asked constantly about whether or not…

The 2012 NBA All-Star game started off as a blowout, but ended up being competitive to the final possession. Kevin Durant and LeBron James tied for the game-high in scoring with 36 points each, but Durant got the MVP nod as his West squad held on to win in exciting fashion, 152-149. Durant started off…

Three times on Friday and Saturday I heard a reporter try to broach the topic of trade demands and where he might play in the future with Dwight Howard, and every time he has responded that he is not talking about anything past All-Star Weekend. “The situation we are in right now is All-Star Weekend.…

Do you remember when then Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis was trying to keep Kevin Love from straying away from the basket and shooting threes? Rambis, Loves hopes you were watching. “But for me, coming into the league, I was told not to shoot three point shots, so to be where I am now and continue…

The Taco Bell Skills challenge was technically the second event on the agenda for All-Star Saturday night in Orlando, but with the first featuring teams of NBA players past and present, along with WNBA players launching half-court shots to ultimately determine the winner, well … we passed. The Skills Challenge, though, is a little bit…

NBA commissioner David Stern held his annual All-Star weekend press conference from the Amway Center in Orlando on Saturday, and not surprisingly, one of the first questions that came up was about Dwight Howard. Howard, as you may have heard, is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, and he’s gone back…

The Nets want Dwight Howard. And not in the “well, if you’re available, we’d love to have coffee with you” way. More in the “blurting out ‘I love you’ on the first date and talking about how easy you are to get into bed” way. The only way this gets more intense is if Mikhail…

Give the people what they want. Nobody tuned in to the BBVA Rising Stars game Friday night of All-Star weekend to watch defense — they wanted to see dunks, crazy passes and guys carpet bombing threes. Then more dunks off ally-oops. Then Jeremy Lin. In that case, the fans got their money’s worth. Friday night…

The defending NBA champions started slow — we’ll call it a championship/lockout hangover — but have found their footing of late. Despite all the roster changes this summer they look good — Dirk Nowitzki is healthy again and their offense is clicking. But the Mavs don’t as good as Oklahoma City in the West. Or…

And the All-Star Three-Point Contest continues to have way more star power than the Dunk Contest…. Kevin Durant has been chosen to replace the Hawks Joe Johnson in the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest on All-Star Saturday night in Orlando, the league has announced. Johnson has tendonitis in his left knee and is resting it through…

Dwight Howard heads to New Jersey Wednesday night to play the Nets in the building that team will not play in next season. The Nets are going to Brooklyn, and they want Howard to join them there. So they are pulling out all the fireworks. Literally. Here is the tweet from Andy Vasquez, the Nets…

The Nets have been without Shawne Williams for more than a week with a foot injury, one that was more serious than previously known. Williams is done for the season after surgery Wednesday to put remove a bone fragment and put in three screws, the team announced Wednesday. He should be able to return next…

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo were on NBC’s SportsTalk yesterday and of course Jeremy Lin, Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks came up. Their consensus — there’s a lot of potential there. Which sounds familiar. Oh, and by the way Deron Williams is really good.

That photo to the right (the larger version is below) was tweeted out by Nike on Tuesday. Nike has all kinds of interconnections with USA basketball and they are the people who design and make what Team USA will wear in London this summer for the Olympics. What you see is it, modeled by Kobe…

Let’s be clear — there was a lot of uncertainty and plenty of rust in the Knicks first game with Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin in the lineup together. It was far from pretty. Stoudemire spent most of the game as the weakside option, something he will do more of but he needs…

Linsanity started a couple weeks ago when Jeremy Lin came off the bench and out of nowhere to drop 25 on the New Jersey Nets. Deron Williams read in the papers how he got “destroyed” by Lin. He got weeks of questions about Lin and how good he was. Williams quietly fumed. Then Monday night…

What you missed while trying to find something to watch now that Downton Abbey is over….. Nets 100, Knicks 92: Deron Williams would like you to know he is the best point guard in the greater New York area, and will be next year when the Nets move to Brooklyn (unless he leaves to play…

“Linsanity” started when Jeremy Lin came in off the bench against the New Jersey Nets, dropped 25 points on Deron Williams and his team, and started to change the Knicks season around. Williams was frustrated. A couple days later, Williams was being peppered with questions about Lin, at one point said “What phenomenon?” then cut…

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge can get overlooked during the All-Star Saturday festivities (especially when guys are dunking over a car), watching guys go through drills is not the most exciting part of the weekend. But this year’s lineup might at least get you stop and watch. Participating are: Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker,…

Miami has looked dominant the last week, while Tony Parker may be the best player in basketball the last two weeks so the Spurs climb. At the bottom, things look familiar. 1. Heat (24-7, last week ranked 1). They became the third team in the NBA to sweep a back-to-back-to-back (Bulls, Thunder), but they did…

Here is our daily look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT). Anthony Morrow is going to wear a Drazen Petrovic Nets throwback jersey during the All-Star Three Point Contest next weekend in Orlando. Petrovic was a…

Stephen Jackson is living in his own little world right now. Jackson and old-school coach Scott Skiles have not meshed, nor has Jackson in the Bucks system. The result has been reduced minutes — eight on Sunday — and lots of Stephen Jackson trade speculation. Jackson basically said on Sunday his ideal situation in his…

What you missed while trying to decide if you should vote for the naked cowboy guy for president… Knicks 104, Mavericks 97: So Mark Cuban, still think Linsanity is all about New York? Matt Moore broke this down as our game of the day Sunday. Heat 90, Magic 78: It wasn’t that close, the Heat…